Irony
by Merlinshmerlin
Summary: Tony Stark is injured and forgets something important. Could this risk the publicizing of information on ironman?
1. Chapter 1

Tony was walking. He didn't usually walk, and he especially didn't walk through the streets of New York. The sidewalks were quite busy with people, but Tony dodged them very well and to his surprise no one really recognized him with his sunglasses on. A man bumped into him very forcefully. Too forcefully. Tony was clever. More clever than this guy so he whipped around and grabbed the guy's wrist firmly. The man looked at his hand and up at Tony who was peering over his stylin RayBans.

"Oh God." The man gaped.

Tony didn't say a word but reached his hand out to receive the contents the man stole. He emptied his pockets, placing Tony's Rolex watch and wallet in his hand. Tony quickly clicked his watch back on and gave the guy an I'm-watching-you gesture then continued on his way.

It was lovely in New York no matter how busy it was. Really that is what makes New York special. Something about the city just gave Tony relaxation, which really is quite ironic. It was beginning to get dark and Tony was making his way to Central Park to meet Pepper and go off to find dinner. He had something planned of course. There she was waiting with her beautiful red hair and fair freckled skin. He really loved everything about her. All the little details about her are what makes her special. All the imperfections really make the one perfection he liked to call Miss Potts. Maybe he wouldn't have to call her by that name forever, but all he cared about was right now. Enjoy the present while you have it, for soon it will be the past and the future will be the present. The problem he usually has is worrying about the future and what will happen next and while doing so doesn't have time to enjoy what he has now and won't have forever. He wanted to have Pepper and make sure she wants him too before its too late. She saw him and smiled while she made her way over towards him to shorten the awkward moment when approaching someone in heels.

"Hey, Pepper." No one made him smile like she did.

"Tony," she tried to sound professional,"Where to?"

"I've got an idea and a car waiting for us." He smiled.

Looking down to his hands he realized he was still holding his wallet. He opened it and noticed something was amiss. He searched the contents of his wallet and looked up at Pepper with a panic stricken face.

"Oh this is bad," He began pacing back and forth with his hands on his head,"This is _really_ bad."

"What's wrong, Tony?" Pepper asked quite concerned.

He looked up at her and loved how she was so concerned.

"Oh no no no no." He said breathily and squinting his eyes.

"Tony. What's the matter?" She was a little more serious this time.

"Pepper, I'm so sorry, but I have to cancel our plans. This is kind of an emergency."

"Tony, tell me."

"Don't worry about it. Go to the car and I'll meet you at my place." He gestured over to where the car was and ran in the other direction already dialing a number on his cell phone.

She was offended and hurt. She watched him walk away and soon realized her mouth was open in displeasure. This was really disappointing. Not that she wasn't getting to go on a date with Tony, but because she thought he would have trusted her enough to tell her what the problem was. Her throat burned as she held back the tears and she didn't know why she felt like this. This was most certainly not the first time he had cancelled on her and it was definitely not the last. When Tony was out of sight she walked over to the car. She stopped next to the door with her hand on the handle and looked around incase Tony decided to come back. Why was she acting like this? She was acting like a child. She swallowed hard and got into the backseat of the car.

"Take me to the Stark Tower."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Briskly walking, being on your cellphone, and trying to pay attention to your surroundings is much harder than one might assume. It was very distracting and he kept running into busy people walking on the sidewalk. He stepped out to cross the street in a hurry and wasn't paying attention. He broke the one very important childhood rule about crossing the street. Look both ways before you cross. He made it halfway across the street when something made him look up for a brief moment. There wasn't any time to look longer before the bumper of the car collided with Tony's side. It all happened so quickly. With the impact of the car, Tony rolled up the front of the car and back down, smack on the concrete of the street. Everything went black. A frightened, and shaky driver jumped out of their car and raced over to the man they had just hit with their car. She knelt down in front of him and shook his shoulders to try and wake him up.

"Sir? Sir, are you okay? Wake up!" She was in tears at this point.

Other men and women gathered around to see what just occurred. One person said,"Hey. Is that Tony Stark? " The woman looked at the unconscious Tony and back at the man who made the observation.

"Oh God I just killed Tony Stark!" She was bawling now.

Tony began to wake up. He was very disoriented but knew one thing and that was pain. He opened his eyes but was welcomed by a bright blur and the sound of muffled voices. Was this how he was going to die? The great super hero, Iron Man, dead by something so dull. He could already see the headlines in the news paper. How embarrassing. He then realized something. He wasn't dying. He blinked a few times to focus his vision and all of the sudden the voices were no longer muffled but quite loud. He surveyed his surroundings and noticed people arguing above him and a girl crying hysterically, standing at his feet. Clearly everyone was too busy to pay attention to him so he sat up.

"Agh," he let out a cry of pain.

Wow this hurt a lot more than he was hoping. Immediately everyone's attention was caught. There was silence and even the hysterically crying girl stopped. Even at a moment like this all of them were star-struck.

"Well if no one is going to help me I think I'll be helping myself." He said with a tone of annoyance.

He stood up and found this was more than a little painful. He winced and looked at all the people gaping at him.

"Um... Perhaps you should go to a hospital." Some one said.

"Perhaps..." he rubbed his head and squinted his eyes,"What just happened?"

"I-I.. Uh... Sort of hit you with my car." The nervous girl answered.

"Well I kind of gathered that. I just feel like I'm forgetting something important."

The people just looked at him once again and Tony sighed. There was no point in just sitting there while people starred at him and it wasn't like he was hurt or anything. Oh wait he was. But not severely or anything.

"I think I'll be on my way now. It's really been fun these last few minutes, but I need to go now." He said sarcastically.

Moving was quite painful as well. His hip hurt from the impact of the car along with his left side and of course his head. The side of his face was raw from the pavement and stung worse than skinned palms. Kind of limping he made his way over to the side walk and reached for his phone, which wasn't there. Patting all of his pockets he realized he didn't have his phone. He looked up at the street and near the scene of his accident he saw something shining. He limped up to it and saw his iPhone shattered all over the ground so he decided to leave it and catch a cab back home.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Pepper came out of one of the rooms to find Tony sitting on the couch staring into space.

"Tony?" Pepper said as she walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He jumped and looked at her.

"Tony, oh my god! What happened to you?"

"I uh... I think I got hit by a car. Don't worry. It wasn't as much fun as you think." He said sarcastically and smiled a little.

"You think?! Are you okay?" Pepper was extremely concerned.

"Well kind of. I'm okay enough. Don't worry about it, Pepper." He looked up at her sadly because he knew how much she would stress over it.

"Did you hit your head? Where are you hurt? Do I need to take you to the hospital? Let me-"

"Pepper! Calm down. I'm really fine. I promise."

"Okay," she bit her lip wishing she could help but he was so stubborn,"Did you resolve the problem with your wallet?"

"Problem with my... What?" He asked as if she was crazy. Pepper stared at him waiting for him to crack a smile because he couldn't handle lying to her any longer. Nothing.

"Tony Stark, you are not tricking me are you? I am not an idiot you know. There was most definitely an issue and if there wasn't then I cannot believe you would cancel our plans for no reason." She said with crossed arms and a stern face.

He looked up at her with the most frightened and innocent look she had ever seen from him.

She put her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god, Tony. I am taking you to the hospital right now." She said as she pulled his arm to get him up.

Tony let out a cry of pain and she quickly let go.

"I'm so sorry! Oh, Tony, don't lie to me about something like this! I know you're hurt now let's go!" She looked at him for a moment as he breathed heavily from the pain,"Can you walk?"

"Yes, Pepper. Quit worrying so much." He begged.

"Tony! You might have a concussion or something!"

He gave her one last annoyed look and gingerly stood up. It hurt but he didn't make a noise because he knew that Pepper would sweat it more than him. Slowly he walked an got his car keys, but Pepper quickly grabbed them first,"Ah- I'm driving, Tony." She said and gave him a look that showed he wasn't going to win if he argued. He sighed and they both got into the elevator and headed to the hospital.

**okay I tried to make this pretty long! Please review and tell me if I should continue and I always appreciate any and all critique! **


	2. Chapter 2

It was late and Pepper stepped off the elevator with a loopy Stark. The Doctor prescribed pain medication, which Tony felt the need to take in the car and in doing so may have over dosed. Leading Tony carefully to his room, Pepper was startled by Rhodey standing in the kitchen.

"Um. What happened here?" Asked Rhodes concerned but amused at the same time.

"Tony had a little accident." Pepper answered only half concerned.

"Is he alright?" Rhodes asked eying the drowsy Tony.

"Only sort of. He got hit by a car."

"He got hit by a car?" Rhodey raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yeah. He did." Pepper yawned,"The doctor said something about a concussion and some amnesia. He hurt his arm or something, hence the sling. He got ruffed up a bit."

"Hmmm. You seem tired, Pepper. Let me get Tony to bed and you need to sleep. We can talk about this in the morning." Rhodey offered.

"Mmm-yeah that sounds like a plan." And with that Pepper walked off to go to bed.

Rhodes took Tony by the shoulder and led him to his room and to his bed. There wasn't really any point in attempting to get him undressed so Rhodey just said good night and shut the door.

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In the morning the sun shone brightly through the window and directly on Tony's face. When he opened his eyes he grunted and turned over but immediately rolled flat on his back. He clenched his teeth with pain and looked at his arm, which was in a sling, and it all came back to him. It hurt so bad and he didn't want to get up so he just stared at the ceiling. Now that he looked at it, he thought how weird ceilings were and how somethings you never think about become so weird. It suddenly hit him. He was bored and thinking about ceilings. This had to stop. Slowly he rolled onto his good side and pushed himself up with his good arm. He blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the light spilling into the room from the window. There was nothing worse than bright lights in your face to Tony right now. Then again he was irritable and sore. On top of that he couldn't seem to locate his slippers. One annoyed flail of the hands later, he limped out of his bedroom and into the kitchen to find Pepper sitting at the island with a cup of coffee. He stood behind her staring at her for just a moment, looking at how beautiful she was. A moment turned into a few minutes and now it was getting creepy so Tony coughed to get her attention. Apparently he got more than he bargained and was met by a backhand to the face. Already in enough pain, he stumbled backwards and tripped down the four steps behind him that led to the sitting area, landing on his back with the air knocked out of him.

Pepper gasped and put her hand over her mouth,"Oh my God, Tony! Oh God! I'm so sorry!" She ran down and helped him sit up,"I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were behind me or even awake. You startled me!"

"Nah. It's okay," Tony grunted,"I think I'm okay but this may cause a delay in the healing process. I think I've got back problems now." He looked up at her lifting one eyebrow and squinting his eyes.

She smiled awkwardly to show she was sorry,"Let me help you."

"Now, now, Pepper. I am a grown man." He arched an eyebrow coolly.

Pepper stepped back and crossed her arms while she was amused by his attempt to be tough. With out saying a word she bent down and put his good arm over her shoulder and hoisted him up.

"Heh, thanks," Tony smiled at her.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Pepper asked half laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Tony squinted his eyes and smiled at her.

"You're just so ridiculous." She laughed.

"I'm ridiculously adorable," he arched an eyebrow,"Now how about some breakfast?"

"Of course. Do you have anything in mind?"

"Maybe," a wide grin spread across his face,"Lets go out for breakfast. When was the last time we did that?"

Pepper giggled,"I don't think you're in any condition to go out right now."

"I'm perfectly fine. I'll just go get dressed an-Ah." He stopped and gritted his teeth together from the pain. He had forgotten about his shoulder.

"Perfectly fine, huh?" Pepper eyed him disapprovingly,"You're not going anywhere." The playful atmosphere quickly faded to seriousness. She wasn't going to make any deals with him.

"Okay, mom." He murmured to the side.

"Tony Stark, what did you just say?" She was laughing now,"Just go clean up and I'll have some breakfast waiting for you."

He raised his eyebrows and gave her a huge smile and blinked at her. Pepper giggled and sighed while resting her forehead on her hand,"Go!" She pointed with her other hand at the door.

Once Tony was gone to get cleaned up, Pepper went back into the kitchen to start making some breakfast for them. Opening the fridge, she clicked her tongue in deciding what she should make. She stared into the fridge for a moment and closed it, but then she ran over to the shelf and pulled out a cook book. It was a fairly large book. She flipped through it until she came to the breakfast section. Running her finger down the list of titles, she stopped when she came across one that caught her eye and flipped to the page number listed. She stared at the recipe, which was quite complicated.

"Are you going to try to cook something?" Rhodey asked from behind Pepper.

She jumped and turned around,"That is the second time this morning someone has scared me." She let out a half laugh half sigh,"And yes, I am trying to cook something for Tony, but it's looking a bit more complicated than I expected."

"Why don't you just let me pick something up," Rhodey smiled at her.

"Yes. Why don't we?" she smiled and slammed shut the cook book.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Rhodey stepped out of the elevator with a box full of donuts and smile on his face.

"Is Tony still not finished? I was gone for a good half hour." Rhodey asked Pepper, who was sitting on the couch.

"Nope. He's still in there. You think he's alright don't you?" Pepper asked very concerned.

"I'm sure he's fine and will be out any minute." He answered assuringly,"But Pepper, while I was walking I stumbled upon this." He held up three identification cards with Tony's name and face printed on them.

Pepper opened her mouth.

"Last night you said that Tony was amnesic, if I do recall correctly." He paused for a moment,"How severe is it?"

"I-I don't know," she looked down and blinked,"Yesterday Tony cancelled our plans because something had gone awry... In his wallet?"

"Pepper, it doesn't take more than a moment for someone to steal information and drop off the evidence. This could be bad."

"Yesterday when I found him, he didn't seem to know what I was talking about when I said something about how he freaked out about his wallet." She looked aghast.

"We're going to need to talk to him, but let's not freak him out."

"Yeah. He's been in there for a while. Jarvis?" Pepper asked.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Is Mr. Stark okay?"

"Yes, ma'am, but he seemed to have some difficulty undressing himself."

"What is he doing now?"

"Having difficulty dressing himself."

"I better go help him," Pepper directed at Rhodey.

"Or maybe we should just leave him alone. You know how stubborn he is." Answered Rhodey.

"I'm just going to go knock on his door real quick," she smiled worriedly and ran on her tiptoes over to his room. Knocking on his bedroom door she waited for a reply, but when she received nothing back she slowly opened his door. The room was completely dark because he had shut the curtains and she could feel a tinge of humidity in the air from his steamy shower.

"Tony?" Pepper called out. Nothing.

She walked across the room to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Tony?" Pepper asked again.

"Yeah?" Tony replied.

"Are you okay? You've been in there for a while." Pepper asked with a concerned tone.

"Yeah. I'm alright. Just give me a-" there was a squeaking sound, a rattling, and the a loud thud followed by a groan from Tony.

"Tony?" Asked Pepper.

Tony let out a fake laugh,"I'm okay. I just slipped."

"Tony, are you sure? Do you need help?"

"I'm fine pepper." Said Tony as he opened the door mid sentence.

He had a towel wrapped around his waist. It was weird seeing his arc reactor just like that. It's bright light slightly illuminated the dark room after he shut the door behind him. He flicked a switch and turned the lights on which quickly flooded the room with artificial light. There was a newly forming bruise on Tony's forehead and a cut on his cheek bone. Plus the damage from his accident yesterday.

"Oh, Tony. You hurt yourself. You need to be more careful." She cautioned him and wiped his cheek with her thumb,"You're mobility is limited with that thing." She said pointing at his sling.

"Pepper, I'm fine. Hell, I don't even need this thing," he said as he ripped the velcro open and threw the sling on the ground.

"Tony! You can't do that!" Pepper was worried.

"God dammit, Pepper. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." He said in an exasperated tone as he sat on his bed and rubbed his brow with the tips of his fingers,"My head kills. So does everything else." He looked up at her with sad eyes,"I'm sorry I yelled. I just feel so anxious for some reason and I can't control my temper. It's just... I feel like I'm forgetting something very important all the time. I can't shake this feeling."

"Oh, Tony. It's okay. Just put on some clothes and come have breakfast with us." Pepper was trying to be as calming as possible.

"Us? Who else is here?"

"Rhodey. He came in last night and stayed. You were too drugged to notice."

"Oh. Yeah. That's right."

"Okay. Well hurry now." Pepper raised her eyebrows and eyed him kindly.

"Be right there." He smiled sadly at her.

Pepper turned around and walked out the door. She shut the door very quietly and walked back into the kitchen where Rhodey was waiting for them.

"The donuts are getting cold." He said impatiently.

"Sorry. Tony, will be out in a second. Or at least he better be." Pepper raised an eyebrow.

"So how do you think we should approach the topic?" Asked Rhodey.

"I don't know," Pepper bit her lip,"But I'm worried about him. He told me that he feels like something is wrong and after you found some of his stolen information I'm really starting to worry."

"Worry about what?" Tony asked as he walked out of his room wearing a black shirt and jeans,"Something wrong, Pepper? It better not be me you're worrying about," he sighed and rolled his eyes over to Rhodey.

Rhodey gave him a thin smile, which put Tony in an awkward situation.

"Well, lets eat something." Said Pepper as she tried to make things more casual.

Tony walked around the counter and picked up a bottle of pills he noticed. Reading the label, he poured a couple in his hand and threw them back dry.

"Tony, you know you're only supposed to take one." Pepper eyed him.

"Yeah. I do." He replied stubbornly.

This made her feel less sorry for him. She glared at him, turned on her heel, and walked out of the room.

"Sheesh. What's wrong with her."

Rhodey squinted his eyes and shook his head slowly,"Tony Stark, you are my best friend, but your are impossible. You are stubborn. And you are absolutely rude sometimes."

With that Rhodey joined Pepper in leaving the room.

Tony stood there alone with his mouth open. He moved his mouth but no words came out. Swallowing hard, he sat down alone and started eating a donut as he stared out the window.

**whew! This one is even longer by a little! Don't you feel a little sorry for tony because he doesn't know what he did wrong? Please review and tell me if I should continue and if you think there is anything I should do to make it better! **


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